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Hear, you who are afar off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge My might."
The sinners in Zion are afraid; Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites:
"Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"
He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, he who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil:
He will dwell on high; his place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; bread will be given him, his water will be sure.
Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; they will see the land that is very far off.
Isa 33:13-15
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Revival
Fires are Falling!
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We do not
want a theological definition of God's presence... we want Him. If our God
is a consuming fire, and that fire takes up residence in you... you will burn
till the day you leave this earth... you will burn with holy passion to love
others, see His kingdom come, and see the enemy's work destroyed!
When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by
the Spirit of judgment and by the
Spirit of burning, then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering.
Isa 4:4-5
Revival is
not a CHARISMATIC experience limited to certain denominations and
"emotionally" based Christians... it is the fire of God that confronts
and melts the hardness of our religious hearts and gives us a holy passion for
the lost, a pure hatred of sin, and the heart of repentance and mourning for
shutting the presence and power of God out of His very own church!
Revivalists
of the Past (off-site):
Revival
Accounts (off-site):
Lord, if
we must bear reproach to experience LIFE, then so be it! It is better than
living with a DEAD spiritual experience of You! If your LIFE comes with
messiness, than I'll take it! If receiving your LIFE means you must shake
up my life.. then do it. You are worth it... if your own Son bore the
stigma of being an illegitimate child and the humiliation of being hung naked on
wooden cross after being beat to a pulp, then what reproach am I willing to
endure if necessary to experience the LIFE He paid for me to have??
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What in the
world is all this talk about fire?? I mean really... I thought hell was where
fire was. Well, there is fire in hell according to the Bible... but for all we know the fires of hell burn
so hot because that will be the one place for all eternity where human self-will
is allowed to be king! Can you imagine the heat caused from the friction
of millions upon millions of souls who all want their own way!! The
Bible speaks of another kind of fire... Holy Fire. This is the kind of
fire that burns hot and bright, but yet it does not CONSUME us. Far too
often, the things we pursue spiritually lead to our burn out, disillusionment,
and emptiness. The fire that Moses saw in the burning bush did not consume
the bush... that is what made it so strange. The fire that fell on the day
of Pentecost RESTED on those believers, but they did not run out of the building
with their clothes flaming. Instead, they ran out of the upper room with
their HEARTS flaming... so much that they overflowed in joyous tongues praising
and exalting God and the Lord Jesus.
And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem
the Spirit of
grace and
supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a
firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
Zech 12:10-11
God is
pouring out grace and supplication and burning and cleansing and power in what
we believe to be the generation that will see the return of the Lord.. many are
entering in and receiving, but many are also pondering at the pool of
theological definition. A big obstacle to experiencing true revival in
America is that we have been trained to approach God from a solely mental understanding
and not a heart understanding. We dedicate this page to sharing our
thoughts, prayers, and feelings about revival. We hope that many brothers
and sisters in the Lord who are scared or confused or dubious or even hostile to what is going on today
will be blessed by these insights. We do not have all the answers, and if
we did you should be worried! All we can do is pray for and ask that believers
will open up their heart to the FIRE of God... many in the American church have lost their
passion, many have lost the flame, and many have grown cold and apathetic (with some very possibly
never having a fire at all!) We NEED the fire
of God. We must get to the point where we cannot live another day without
it... it is only that kind of hunger that will move the heavens and cause the
King of Glory to come down among us!
TO GET
WHAT YOU HAVE NOT GOT,
YOU MUST DO WHAT YOU HAVE NOT DONE
Is there just
criticism of many of the revival movements happening today?? Certainly. Do
they require reproof and correction in some instances?? Of course. Is
there just criticism of those who are attacking the revival movements of the
day?? Certainly. Do they need reproof and correction as much as those they
are criticizing?? Of course. There is indeed a difference between those
who offer true Biblical reproof and correction and those who deny these
movements are of God at all or try to assassinate the character of those leading
these renewals. No one likes to be reproved and corrected... whether for
those in revival or for those standing on the sidelines offering religious
critiques. Those who are in the position of correction normally walk a
fine line themselves in regard to self-righteousness and calcified religious
attitudes... and that applies to both sides of those involved in the arguments.
The question
of revival is a question of tradeoffs. Would we rather risk the chance of
drinking from poisoned waters or would we rather risk the chance of being lead
away from the fountain of living waters?? Which is more dangerous??
To tell you the truth, they are both EQUALLY dangerous. That is why we
should avoid the FORMER, without ignoring the REAL danger of the
LATTER. You mean God would actually leave that type of choice open
to us?? You mean God would not make it crystal clear so that there is no way we
could be deceived by a false move of God or make our hearts so understandable
that we could not become religiously hardened and deceived by a pharisaical
spirit? Unfortunately, both possibilities are fully available and open to
you as a believer... just as all the trees of the garden of Eden were available
to Adam and Eve (God did not put a flaming sword around the tree of knowledge of
good and evil did He??) When it comes down to it though, I believe it is
far more easy to be deceived by a pharisaical spirit than it is to be deceived
by a false move of God. The works of the devil and the flesh can be
more easily identifiable than the proclivity of our hearts toward spiritual
blindness! Jesus gave us the true test of discernment in the arena of
spiritual fruit--- the devil never gets any joy nor does he ever promote people
getting excited about Jesus, committing their entire lives wholeheartedly to Him
as true disciples, being set free of sin and bondages, being physically healed,
being set free of emotional scars and physical addictions, or having the church
awaken out of spiritual slumber to fervent intercession and true heartfelt
worship of the living God. This is nothing new... it is the same test Jonathon
Edwards said we need to apply in discerning a true move of the Spirit:
overlook the externals that you might see and get down to how people are being
changed on the inside. That is the true test.
In a real
sense, childbirth offers us the best picture of revival... it is a birthing of
LIFE. Sometimes the entrance of LIFE into lives of people that have been
long entrenched in DEATH can be very unsettling and down right scary!
Child birth is a wonderful miracle-- the bringing of life into this world.
It is preceded by much travail, labor, anguish, agony, sweat, tears, emotions,
and expectation! Revivals are birthed the same way. The Holy Spirit
always travails among a group of people through whom He will birth LIFE.
When the baby is actually delivered, it is not the most pleasant thing in the
world to see or experience! It's rather gross if you have ever been
witness to it. It's intense to say the least, for those watching, those
involved in the delivery, and most of all for the woman and child involved in
this marvel of life. Let's get graphic here for a moment.... the woman
delivering is embarrassingly exposed to the entire world at the point of
delivery. There are all sorts of nasty bodily fluids flying everywhere and
the weak of heart are not that comfortable in this situation. There is
screaming, crying, and an absolute loss of intellectual reason in most cases
when the delivery is at its peak. Words like "If you do this to me
again I'll kill you" have been offered to many a husband in the delivery
room on countless occasions I am sure.
In this
sense, God wants so much to birth a newness and freshness of LIFE into the Body
of Christ. Some of its parts have become stiff and calcified, out of joint
and broken, even disconnected from the nervous system and the head. The
entrance of LIFE, just as in childbirth, can be in the same way rather rude,
offensive, and shocking for those observing the whole thing. For those
involved in the delivery, it is intense work and labor... they don't have time
to criticize the woman for having unkempt hair or not wearing makeup or for
being overly emotional or for shouting loudly... their only interest is to
FACILITATE the birthing process. NOTICE: those involved in the delivery
have nothing to do with CREATING the LIFE. It just so happens the burden
has fallen on them to see that LIFE is allowed to be delivered, healthy and
safely into this violent world. But oh the marvel when that LIFE has
come! But this marvel comes with its own mess too... sure enough, the
first thing my son did when he was born was poop all over the nurse!
Birthing LIFE is messy... yet God designed it to be that way. Birthing and
sustaining LIFE in the Body of Christ (one definition of REVIVAL) is messy too..
yet history AND current events testify that God has designed it to be that way
as well. But oh the marvel of that life-- the sick healed, the depressed
delivered, the enslaved set free, the blind eyes opened, the sinful made
righteous by faith in Jesus, the weak made strong, the lame made whole.
John Wesley, after the revival of his day had about died out for the time, once
prayed: "Oh, Lord, send us the old revival, without the defects; but if
this cannot be, send it with all its defects. We must have the
revival!"
Our problem
is that we want God to give us LIFE, but we do not want anything in our life to
change! We want LIFE, but we want it to be STERILE and ESOTERIC and
INTELLECTUAL. We want LIFE, but we don't want the messiness that it can
produce. We want REVIVAL, but we do not want the pain of travail in prayer
for souls and for God's mercy to be poured out on this world. Yet, you
cannot have any of these things on those terms... LIFE comes with an inherent
risk and messiness. Are we willing to take the messiness in order to have
the joy of the LIFE?? Are we willing to endure the suffering and travail to see
REVIVAL birthed?? It is a question the Holy Spirit is asking to
everyone who hears His voice today...
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"Show
me a people on their faces before God - gripped in the unction of prayer
and I show you a people ready for revival."
Duncan Campbell, 26-year
old leader of the Hebrides revival
Featured
Churches in Revival
A few of
the churches that are in active revival or that have an
awakening of God's Spirit in their midst. Do we believe that
all of these are absolutely of God?? If people are repenting
of sin, being delivered of bondages, being restored in marriages,
falling in love with Jesus, and hungering for the lost, then
ABSOLUTELY. DON'T look at the "WEIRDNESS". DO
look at the fruit ... displays of unusual manifestations of the
Spirit, displays of fleshly emotionalism, and displays of demonic
activity can probably be found in any one of these revivals.
BIG DEAL! They have been found in every single recorded
revival of church history, including the ones where churches have
altered the history of the revival to hide the "MESSINESS"
of the revival itself. That is why you need to read and study
an unbiased view of revival history... it will open your eyes to the
fact of how God chooses to bring renewal in some very
"MESSY" ways. |
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Brownsville
Assembly of God
(Pensacola,
FL) |
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The
Smithton Outpouring
(Smithton,
MO) |
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The
River
(Tampa,
FL) |
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North
Plymouth Community Church
(Plymouth,
UK) |
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Hatfield
Christian Church (Pretoria,
South Africa) |
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City
Bible Church
(Portland,
OR) |
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Rocky
Mountain Awakening
(Colorado) |
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Rock
City Church
(Baltimore,
MD) |
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Harvest
Christian Fellowship
(Princeton,
NJ) |
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Capital
Region Revival (Maryland,
Virginia, DC) |
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Christian
Life Center
(Mount
Annan, Australia) |
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Renewal/Revival
Locator |
| What
Is Revival?? |
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Charles G. Finny
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- Conviction
of sin on the part of the Church;
- Backslidden
Christians brought to repentance;
- The
renewal of faith among Christians;
- The
breaking of the power of the world and sin over Christians;
- The
awakening and reformation of the Church which leads to the
reformation and salvation of sinners.
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"The
current structure of the church will not accommodate what I am about to
do; take it down."
-- How radical do we need to
be in order to reach this radically lost world in this hour?? How
radical does our abandon for God need to be in comparison to the radical
abandon to sin and the radical yielding to the spiritual rulers of this
present darkness that our nation and our world has undertaken??
Historians
tells us that the Temple in Jerusalem continued to operate normally for
near 40 years after the crucifixion of Jesus until its destruction in 70
A.D. They actually repaired and put back up the veil of the Holy
of Holies, which had been torn from top to bottom when Jesus uttered
"It is finished" and offered Himself up to God as the lamb
that takes away the sin of the world. God was changing the way He
would now tabernacle with man... a temple made with hands of men would no
longer be His resting place: a heart purified by the blood of
Jesus would now be the resting place of His glory! The old
structures would no longer accommodate what God was doing...but they
still continued doing their religious exercises in the Temple, all
without any presence or manifestation of God, for 40 years or so until
the day it was destroyed!
Do we have patched up
veils that need to be taken down??
Featured
Information Sites
All you can
stand to learn about revival.... and I don't mean the one your
church holds once every year for 3 days. Some sites offer
great historical references to past revivals and point to how the
Lord is stirring His Church these days... renewal and restoration,
reformation and rebirthing. Of course, threemacs does not
necessarily indorse EVERY single thing found on these sights...
you have to rely on the discernment of the Holy Spirit and the
truth of the Word just like
we do! |
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Richard
M. Riss
A must read
for those new to revival and somewhat skeptical of it
all. Some VERY good historical materials and
research.. especially the History of the Awakening page.
Links to other revivals, history on revival and the renewal of the
last decade. |
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Revivals,
Past and Present
Great
starting point for reading and discovering the historical roots of
revival. Extensive listings.. |
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The
Revival Archives
EXCELLENT
historical site with revival accounts, stories of great
revivalists, and articles on revival itself. |
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The
Blessing Page Archives
Extensive
listing of testimonies (fruit) from revivals all around the world
and articles on renewal in general. |
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God
Chasers Network
A good
historical site, links to other churches. |
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The
Renewed Network
Good links,
archives of web email and discussions about revival... generally
good overview. |
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Global
Awakening
Randy
Clark, one of the key people involved in the original outpouring
of the Toronto Vineyard. |
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The
Watch of the Lord
(Mahesh Chavda Ministries)
In 1995, the Chavdas
and a handful of others began meeting spontaneously to SEEK THE
LORD IN PRAYER. The Holy Spirit began revealing CORPORATE
INTERCESSION as a MISSING LINK BETWEEN THE RENEWAL AND THE
HARVEST. The Watch of the Lord represents a restoration of
something very dear to the heart of our Savior: PRAYER. |
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Jack
Deere (Evangelical Foundation Ministries)
A former Dallas
Theological seminary professor, Jack is one of the most gifted
Christian writers you will ever read... specifically gifted in
dealing with the intellectual pursuit of Christianity apart from a
heart love for Christ. |
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Revival
Generation
(UK)
UK based
renewal link focused on THIS generation . Revival chat rooms and
newsletter. News from around the world. |
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Passion!
Passion
exists to glorify God -- inviting students everywhere to seek God
wholeheartedly in an atmosphere of corporate worship. Through His
grace and in His presence, they desire that God change students
and ignite in their souls a passionate pursuit of Him, and a
desire to declare His glory in their lives, campuses, and to the
ends of the earth.. The first passion conference was in Jan
1997 in Austin, Texas. GREAT anointed revival music to stir
the hearts of this generation. |
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Revival
Now (Wes
Campbell)
Revival
extension ministry of Wesley and Stacey Campbell, pastor and
leader of New Life Vineyard Fellowship
"Revival Now!" Ministries has a special emphasis on
church renewal, prophecy, and revival.s. |
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The
River Interdenominational Youth Church
Rather
hard on the eyes, but this site is full of the passion and
exuberance of the renewal movement among youth... some good
articles as well.. |
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Northwest
Revival Network
Washington area site
chronicling, with a mission to spread the fire,
passion and healing of renewal and revival around the world.. |
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Harvest
Evangelism (Ed
Silvoso, Argentina Revival)
An
inter-denominational ministry committed to helping fulfill the
Great Commission (Matt.28:19,20) in this generation. The Harvest
team, led by founder and president, Rev.
Ed Silvoso, is dedicated to serving the
entire Body of Christ around the globe in pursuit of the vision to
reach entire cities for Christ by implementing the principles and
strategy of Prayer
Evangelism |
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Global
Resource Ministries
A good
historical site, links to other churches Be sure to look at
the links on renewal.. |
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Roberts
Lierden
Renewal and field ministry
dedicated to revival and preservation of Church heritage and
history. |
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Europe
Awake
Hosted from St.
Andrew's Church, Chorleywood, UK, 'Europe Awake' is
committed to praying and preparing for a radical advance of the
Kingdom of God in the UK and the rest of Europe. Conference
ministry focused on prayer and uniting the church for action in
Europe. |
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The
Jesus Army (UK)
A UK-based
evangelical Christian church with a charismatic emphasis and
Baptist roots. The church aims to be a contemporary expression of
the historic Christian faith. It is orthodox in doctrine
and upholds the universally-accepted Christian creeds... but
Church was never like this before. |
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In
Christ Ministries
A Christian
ministry committed to spiritual renewal within the church, based
in the city of Ithaca NY. Great site for renewal
history and locating friends of renewal. |
| Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while. And he said to them: "Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men.
For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. |
What
is the true Biblical rule for discernment in this hour?? Can we be
found guilty of fighting against God by attacking those things which
offend our own spiritual sensibilities and our own idea
of orthodoxy but are in actuality the very presence and power of God
in our midst?? Did the religious of their day take time to even
notice a man born lame had been healed in the name of Jesus, or were
they already convinced this miracle was not of God because it did not
fit their idea of what God would be doing and by what means He would
be doing it?? Did they take the time to examine the fruit before they
chose to attack the root?? |
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After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. |
| And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing;
but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow
it-- lest you even be found to fight against
God." (NKJ)
Acts 5:34-39 |
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Recommended
Readings
Books
dealing with the move of God in the last days, overcoming
traditional views of the Holy Spirit, and overcoming intellectual
pride we all deal with in terms of theological understanding. |
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Quenching
the Spirit
William DeAteaga, Creation
House, ISBN 0-88419-432-9
Get It Online |
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Let
No One Deceive You
Michael L. Brown, Revival
Press, ISBN 1-56043-693-X
Get
It Online |
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Surprised
by the Power of the Spirit
Jack Deere, Zondervan
Publishing House, ISBN 0-310-21127-1
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Surprised
by the Voice of God
Jack Deere, Zondervan
Publishing House, ISBN 0-310-46200-2
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When
the Spirit Comes with Power
John White, ISBN
0-8308-1222-9
Get
It Online |
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Another
Wave of Revival
Frank Bartleman, Whitaker
House, ISBN 0-88368-111-0 |
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The
Final Quest
Rick Joyner, Morning Star
Publications, ISBN 1-878327-52-6 |
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Fresh
Wind, Fresh Fire
Jim Cymbala, Zondervan
Publishing House, ISBN 0-310-21188-3 |
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The
Coming Revival: America's Call to Fast, Pray...
Bill Bright, New Life
Publications
Get
it Online |
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The
Surprising Work of God
Jonathan Edwards, Whitaker
House,
ISBN 0-883-68237-0
Get
It Online |
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That
None Should Perish
Ed Silvoso, Regal Books,
ISBN 0-8307-1690-4
Get
It Online |
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The
World Aflame
Rick Joyner, Whitaker
House, ISBN 0-883-68373-3
Get
It Online |
If you would like
to suggest a link, article, or book for this page, contact webmaster@threemacs.org
and reference Revival Fires are Falling..
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